Angus michell Piaget’s theory 24/5/18
Piaget’s theory focuses on development of a child’s cognition through different stages. The idea that a child develops in stages has implications for education. Piaget argues that every kid must pass through each stage in the same order and cannot skip a stage. In terms of learning, this can be applied to the speed at which things are taught. If a student cannot grasp the “building blocks” of a concept, such as if they are having difficulty grasping abstract ideas which can only be done in formal operation, concepts that are based upon these building blocks should not be taught until ready. Related to the notion of development being in stages, lesson plans should be focused around the level of cognitive development. For example, if the students are in the concrete operational stage, they need “manipulatives” to help them understand more abstract ideas. Thus, the lesson plan should involve hands on activities that has concrete objects to aid understanding and enhance learning.
Piaget’s theory can be applied to when and how a child should be taught. Piaget’s theory is very student centred and the role of the teacher is as the facilitator, this basically means that the teacher should not ‘spoon feed’ the pupil the information but help them by assessing the level they are at and then setting suitable tasks for example giving children small tests to see how they have progressed and then set tasks to address any problems that the pupil may be having. Another application of Piagets the theory is that tasks should be set that are challenging enough to cause disequilibrium and therefore the child will have to accommodate and create new schemas to deal with the problem, an example for the use of this could be giving increasin...
